Friday, May 18, 2012

Eats, Shoots and Leaves


Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss and Bonnie Timmons is a very short book with only one sentence on each page. The sentences are silly and show you how the context of the sentence is changed by jut the placement of a comma. One sentence will have a comma in once place and then the same sentence will be written on the next page with the comma in a different place. The two sentences are totally different and all because of the placement of a comma.
    I loved this book. It is a great teaching tool to use when students are learning about commas and showing them how important their proper placement is to the meaning of the sentence. This is a book that could be used as a read aloud with great discussion about comma placement. It would also be  a great book to have laying around your classroom for students to refer to when they are writing.
    I would not use this book with students younger than third grade because younger students may not developmentally ready for this kind of thinking and may have trouble understanding the difference between the sentences.  This book would be great to use with ESL students because it is so simple yet teaches a great concept and the pictures help illustrate what the author wants to convey through each sentence. I just really enjoyed this book and think it would be a great way to incorporate literature into multiple subjects. This book could be a great introduction into a lesson where students are required to create their own sentences where the placement of the comma changes the meaning of the sentence.

2 comments:

  1. This reminds me of the sentences that we were reading in class the other day. The comma is a tricky character that I have not yet mastered. I think that this would be a great addition to the classroom for comma support!

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  2. You probably noticed from the sticker on the front cover, but this was adapted from an adult's version related to punctuation. It looks like the author has written other similar books for kids as well.

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